Sand and gas separator



July 19, 1932. w. J. DUNLAP SAND AND GAS SEPARA TOR Filed April 22, 1931III Patented July 19, 1932 Y 1,868,003

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM J. DUNLAP, F LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIASAND AND GAS SEPARATOR Application filed April 22, 1931. Serial No.532,034..

This invention relates to improvements in employed to bean or choke backthe well. sand and gas separators and may be regarded. Referring to theaccompanying drawing, as an improvement over the construction diswherein811111131 reference characters desigclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,759,004, 1snate 311111131" parts throughout, designates sued May 20,1930. a seat for a standing valve which is conven- 65 An object of thepresent invention is to tionally employed in deep well pumps. Gonprovidean improved sand and gas separator nected to the seat 10 are variousfittings 11 for use in oil wells and the like which is of and a collar12 which is preferably provided simple construction and which permits ofthe w th set screws 13 to prevent unscrewing 0 omission of the so calledmosquito bill While 1n the well. The sand and gas sepa- 0 which isattached to and extends downwardrator comprises an outer tube 14, theupper 1y from the standing valve. end of which is screwed into thecollar12.

Another object of the present invention is This tube is of conslderablelength and has a to provide a sand and gas separator which removableclosure 15 at its bottom. Within 15 will effectively separate sand andmost of the outer tube there 1s an inner tube 16 havll the gas from theoil and which has a replacemg a removable closure 17 at its bottom. Theable fitting serving to bean back the well outer tube 14 1s made up ofsections and a so that oil in the well will not be caused to jolntmollcated at 18 is preferably arranged surge by the pump to such anextent as to near the lower end of the inner tube 16 so that h bringabout a caving in of the well walls. by breakmg the jolnt 1n the outertube ac- 70 In other words the purpose is to choke back cess to closure17 may easily be had. A cloto a certain extent the flow of oil to thepump sure r1ng 19 1s welded to the outer tube 14 so that the flow of oilfrom the well into the and to the inner tube 16 adjacent the to pumpwill be more steady or constant, thus thereof, forming a closure betweenthe tubes. 25 reducing the surging tendency and the tend- A diametricalpartition 20 is likewise welded T5 ency to bring about cave-in betweenthe tubes and extends from the clo- A th bj t f th i ti i t sure r1ng 19to substant ally the bottom of id a gas d d separator employing theinner tube 16,'d1v1d1ng the interior of merely two tubes, enabling thedevice to be t Outer tube 14 about the inner tub 16 0 constructed invery small sizes and yet ef- 111130 limylindrical chambers 21 and 8fectively separate sand and gas from the oil. 5 1 1nl t 23 1s formed 1nthe outer tube The improved construction has the tubes pro- 14 adjacent'05 op so as to be arranged on vided with removable closures adjacentthe s1de the p rtltlon 20. An 1nlet 24 bottom so that the separator canbe emptied 18 rmed 1n the top of the inn r t b 16 on ith t b i E theopposite s1de from 1nlet 23 so as to be With the foregoing and otherobjects i arranged on the opposite side of the bafile. i hi h ill b d ift i th The distance from closure 17 to closure 15 following detaileddescription, and specificonstltlltes a hg hamber 25 for sand callypointed out in the appended claims, refand 151115 chamber 13 loflated aSuificlent grence is had to thg accompanying drawing tance below thestanding valve SO the 90 for an illustrative embodiment of the inven pphn the o t deal Working conditi h i tlons is incapable of llfting sandfrom the Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the imbottom of thischamber. The interior of clo- 45 proved sand and gas separator. surerlng 19 1S internally threaded as indi- Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectiontaken upon cated at 26 and is adapted to receive a stand- 5 the line 2-2upon Figure 1. ard flow nipple 27 having an aperture or Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section taken upon orifice 28 therein of predetermined size,or the line 33 upon Figure 1. if desired a flow bean 29 having a smallerFig. 4: is a partial sectional view illussized aperture 30 may besubstituted therean trating a replaceable fitting which may be for. l

The o eration and advantages of the improved sand and gas separator areas follows. The oil carrying the gas and sand may enter the outer tubethrough inlet 23. It flows downwardly through semi-cylindrical chamber22 and during this down flow much of the gas may separate out and escapethrough the inlet 23. The partition 20 causes the down flow to continueto a point near the bottom of inner tube 16. After passing the bottom ofinner tube 16 and the bottom of partition 20, the oil enters thesettling chamber 25. In this chamber there is but a slow flow of oilgiving the sand, which may be carried by the oil, adequate opportunityto settle out and drop to the bottom of the settling chamber. The oilthen flows upwardly through semicylindrical chamber 21 and enters theinner tube 16 through inlet 24. Within the inner tube 16 the sand isgiven a second opportunity to settle out with the sand collecting on topof closure 17 The oil then may flow up through the fittingQ'? to thepump. By virtue of the fact that the fitting 27 forms a somewhatconstricted passage it has the effect of choking back to a certainextent the supply 01. oil to the pump. In other words if a conventionaldeep well pump is employed, on the up stroke of the plunger there is asurge of oil into the pump barrel. If all passages leading to the pumpare large and free, this causes a surge of oil to take place in the wellwhich is of a considerable velocity and which is quite sudden. Thissudden surge has the effect of bringing about cave-ins in the walls ofthe well. By having the flow nipple 27 present, as the velocity of theoil to the pump has a tendency to increase, the resistance ofi'ered bythe aperture 28 likewise in creases. Consequently the surging actionwhich would otherwise have a tendency to take place is greatly reduced,eliminating to a large extent the tendency to cave or wash away thewalls of the well. If in a given well it is found that the flow nipple27 is too large to reduce this surging tendency, a flow bean 29 may besubstituted therefor, having a' smaller orifice which will bring aboutthe desired results. This flow bean can be easily substituted bydetaching the separator from collar 12 which makes the top of thefitting readily accessible for the application of a suitable wrench.

From the above described construction it will be appreciated that theimproved gas and sand separator is advantageous in that it employes onlytwo tubes, enabling the device to be made in very small sizes ifnecessary. It is possible to eliminate the use of the mosquito bill andat the same time to bean back the well so that surging of the liquid inthe well is reduced, if not eliminated. Whenever the separator becomesfilled with sand, closure 15 can be removed to empty the outer tube andby breaking the outer tube at joint 18 closure 17 can be removed toempty the inner tube. In this manner the separator can be emptied whilein an upright position.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A sand and separator comprising an outer tube, an inner tube disposedtherein, means providing a partition connecting the outer tube to theinner tube, means forming a' closure between the top of the outer tubeand the inner tube, there being an inlet to the outer tube adjacent itstop arranged on one side ofthe partition, there being an inlet to theinner tube adjacent its top arranged on the opposite side of thepartition, and a replaceable member removably mounted at the top of theinner tube having an orifice therethrough of a predetermined size, saidreplaceable member being relatively shor as compared with the length ofthe inner tube so as to leave the major portion of the interior of theinner tube unobstructed.

2. A sand and gas separator comprising an outer tube, an inner tubedisposed therein, means providing a partition connecting the outer tubeto the inner tube, means forming a closure between the top of the outertube and the inner tube, there being an inlet to the outer tube adjacentits top arranged on one side of the partition, there being an inlet tothe inner tube adjacent its top arranged on the opposite side of thepartition, a replaceable member removably mounted at the top of theinner tube havin an orifice therethrough of a predetermined size, saidreplaceable member being relatively short as compared with the length ofthe inner tube so as to leave the major portion of the interior of theinner tube unobstructed, and removable closures at the lower ends ofsaid tube, the lower end of the outer tube being disposed a materialdistance below the lower end of the inner tube to provide an adequatesettling chamber for sand, there being a joint in the outer tubeadjacent the lower end of the inner tube.

3. A sand and gas separator comprising an outer tube, an inner tubedisposed therein, means providing a partition connecting the outer tubeto the inner tube, means form: ing a closure between the top of theouter tube and the inner tube, there being an inlet in the outer tubeadjacent its top arranged on one side of the partition, there being aninlet to the inner tube adjacent its toparranged on the opposite side ofthe partition, and a member having an orifice therethrough of apredetermined size threadedly mounted at the juncture between saidclosure and the top of the inner tube, said member being relativelyshort as compared with the length of the inner tube so as to leave themajor portion of the interior of the inner tube unobstructed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM J. DUNLAP.

